The benefits of the approach of “receptive ecumenism” are becoming increasingly appreciated within ecumenical circles. A primary focus is the way a particular Christian tradition can learn from another and, in a mutual exchange of gifts, receive gifts that have not been part of one’s own tradition. This essay views this dynamic in terms of

The 2017 Reformation Centenary is the first commemoration to take place during the ecumenical age and marks fifty years of Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogue. The current ecumenical landscape is a tale of two cities, one of ecclesial fragmentation that exists simultaneously with new relationships of communion and ecumenical progress. The way forward requires the discernment of

The author asks if a new ecumenism might be emerging, one that can bring the burgeoning new Pentecostal-charismatic-independent churches of the Global South, most of them non-liturgical or sacramental, together with the traditional churches of Europe and North America that continue to lose members. The article assesses the recent statement of the World Council of

Henri de Lubac hoped that his works on premodern Christian exegesis would help the church recover a more holistic Christian approach to Scripture, but the presence of anti-Jewish rhetoric in the tradition, which he reproduces in his major works, is a significant obstacle to any such recovery. While he did not address this difficulty in

This contribution reconsiders the rejected but often overlooked “Malines text” (September 1963) as the missing link in the redaction history of Gaudium et Spes and as a key witness to the document’s Christian anthropology. Applying the three hermeneutical principles of content, style, and “pastorality” (pastoralité) to this text and its redaction history, a basis is

In the Western theological tradition, nonhuman suffering was not perceived as a “live” problem until the early modern period. Constrained by classical theism, the early modern figures of René Descartes, Anne Conway, and G.W. Leibniz developed three distinct approaches to animal theodicy based upon their unique reconceptualization(s) of the world. These three approaches, (1) denial

Through a reconsideration of metaphorical language in its relation to analogy, this essay brings into conversation the divergent currents of spirituality and theology. The author advocates a theological approach which values and appropriately employs both analogical and figurative language as the means for integrating the speculative and spiritual dimensions of theological discourse. In particular, by

This essay explores the impact of Søren Kierkegaard upon the important Italian Thomist, Cornelio Fabro. Fabro rejected the caricature of Kierkegaard as an “irrationalist” and placed him firmly in the Christian tradition. By highlighting the influence of Kierkegaard upon a Thomist like Fabro, the relevance of Fabro’s own thought is opened up for more contemporary

Pope Francis has spoken of his vision of synodality and of a synodal church in terms of “an inverted pyramid.” This essay examines the roots of such a vision in the vision of Vatican II, particularly two reversals made by the council regarding the nature of the church. Moreover, it shows the centrality of the

This essay uses practical theology as a method to investigate the disconnect between church teaching on divorce and remarriage without an annulment and the lived experience of the faithful, and argues for a reformulation of the doctrine. First, it presents the interrelationship between sociology and the sensus fidelium as a methodological framework for doing practical